The objectives of the Registry are to collect specimens, classify and study diseases and to utilize knowledge of diseases in animal species including fish, birds, wild free-living mammals, and zoo animals to benefit mankind. In some instances, these disease processes will act as indicators of environmental factors that may influence human health. In other instances, these diseases will provide new and useful animal models of human disease that will aid in the understanding of disease in man. The Registry will continue to serve as a unique national resource where constantly increasing tissue collections and illustrative material, all indexed in a "natural language" computerized file are available for study. Knowledge emanating from the Registry is disseminated by means of the Comparative Pathology Bulletin, published articles in scientific journals, workshops, symposia, short courses, exhibits, loan study sets and their syllabi, and the publication of Handbook: Animal Models of Human Disease and fascicles. The Registry continues to serve as a study center where scientists who are interested in comparative pathology can come for extended periods to study the material in the Registry.